Briefs: May-Treanor advances to semifinals in Norway

Newport Harbor High alumna Misty May-Treanor and partner Nicole Branagh have advanced to the semifinals of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour ConocoPhillips Grand Slam in Stavanger, Norway.

May-Treanor and Branagh, seeded seventh, received a bye in round two of the single-elimination rounds Friday because they were undefeated in pool play. They then swept their third-round match against No. 14 Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands, 21-19, 21-17, in 39 minutes.

May-Treanor and Branagh will face the No. 1 team of Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, of Brazil, in a semifinal today. The winner will face either No. 3-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Da Rocha Antunes of Brazil, or No. 20 Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hajeckova of the Czech Republic, for the gold medal.

Sailors alumna April Ross and partner Jen Kessy, the No. 2-seeded team, were eliminated by Silva and Franca, 19-21, 21-15, 15-9, in the second round.

On the men’s side, Costa Mesa’s Matt Fuerbringer and partner Nick Lucena, seeded 16th, fell to No. 17 Yaroslav Koshkarev and Igor Kolodinsky of Russia, 21-15, 22-20.

Fuerbringer and Lucena finished third in Pool J and have a match today against No. 7-seeded Insfran Benjamin and Oscar Schmidt Bruno of Brazil.

Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Corona del Mar resident Sean Rosenthal, seeded No. 14, lost to third-seeded Pablo Allepuz Herrera and Adrian Collado Gavira of Spain, 21-18, 21-17. They also finished third in their pool and will face the No. 4-seeded team from China, Penggen Wu and Linyin Wu, today.

The ConocoPhillips Grand Slam from Norway is the third of six Grand Slams on the 2010 FIVB schedule.

The women’s and men’s finals will be broadcast on NBC, delayed, on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

— From staff reports

Moran makes USA Surf Team

Costa Mesa resident Colin Moran, who attends Newport Harbor High, has been named to the 2011 PacSun USA Surf Team in the boys’ under-16 division for the second straight year.

Moran and his teammates on the under-16 team, as well as the surfers selected to the boys’ under-18 and girls’ 18 teams, will train together under the leadership of Coach Ian Cairns. Twelve of the members will be selected to the traveling team for the 2011 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships next year.

Moran was previously named to the under-14 team in 2008 and the under-12 team in 2007. He was also part of the boys’ shortboard group when the Sailors won the Interscholastic Surfing Federation state championship in April.

— From staff reports

Balboa Bay wins pool

AUSTIN, Texas — The Balboa Bay Volleyball Club 18 Quiksilver team won its 18 Open division pool Friday at the 2010 USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships.

Balboa Bay features recent Corona del Mar graduates Weston Nielsen (UC Santa Barbara) and Joey Booth (USC), as well as Newport Harbor grads Jackson Carmack (UCLA) and Connor Curry (Penn State). UC Irvine men’s volleyball Coach John Speraw coaches the team, which has won all six sets it has played in the tournament.

Balboa Bay will be back in action for three more matches today, starting with one against Epic Volleyball Club of Poway.

Newport Harbor grad Will Connelly (USC) and Sage Hill’s Mattias Russo-Larsson are playing on the Balboa Bay 18 White squad, which is 2-1 and finished second in its 18 Open division pool.

Corona del Mar’s Parker Brown and Remy Lamons are on the Balboa Bay 16 Quiksilver squad, which begins play today.

— From staff reports

OCVC finishes ninth

RENO, Nev. — The Orange County Volleyball Club 18 Roxy team, featuring several players from Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools, finished ninth Friday in the 18 Open division at the 2010 USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships.

Orange County went 7-3 overall in the division. The team featured recent Newport Harbor graduates Kirby Birnham (USC), Kelly Heenan and Katey Thompson (both UC Santa Barbara), as well as Corona del Mar graduates Madie Smith (UCLA) and Sydney Brombal (Princeton).

Newport Harbor’s Cinnamon Sary, who will be a junior this fall, was also on the roster. Orange Coast College men’s coach Travis Turner led the team and club director Charlie Brande was listed as a team representative.

The Sailors’ Madison Brown, who will be a senior in the fall, was on the Surf City 18 team that finished 23rd in the 18 Open division. Craig Pazanti of Huntington Beach coached that team.

Among other locals, Corona del Mar’s Claire Ham, who will be a senior this fall, was on the Laguna Beach Volleyball Club team that finished 13th in the 17 Open division.

Laguna Beach’s 18 team, which featured a strong Orange County contingent but nobody from Newport Mesa, finished third in the 18 Open division. The Sports Shack 18 team that featured Los Alamitos’ Jane Croson won the gold.

— From staff reports

King on ESPN

The debut of Billie Jean King’s “Homecoming with Rick Reilly” special will air today at 4 p.m. on ESPN, with a second showing July 9 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

“Homecoming” tells the story of an athlete’s life in front of an audience of friends and family who they’ve known throughout the many stages of their career. The show of King, the tennis pioneer, was filmed in her hometown at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Long Beach.

The live audience included King’s mother Betty Moffitt, Tracy Austin, Rosie Casals, Bud Collins, Owen Davidson, Zina Garrison and Maria Sharapova. Chris Evert appeared via satellite.

King is the co-founder of World Team Tennis and the co-owner of the Newport Beach Breakers, who open their season Monday and have their home opener Tuesday night at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.

— From staff reports